CHAPTER IX.
_Into the Wilderness_
Onto the West at last to build the house of God in the mountains. On towhat Daniel Webster had lately styled "a region of savages and wildbeasts, of deserts, of shifting sands and whirlwinds of dust, of cactusand prairie-dogs."
The little band of pioneers chosen to break a way for the main body ofthe Saints consisted of a hundred and forty-three men, three women, andtwo children. They were to travel in seventy-three wagons, drawn byhorses and oxen. They knew not where they were to stop, but they weremen of eager initiative, fearless and determined; and their consolationwas that, while their exodus into the desert meant hardship and grievoussuffering, it also promised them freedom from Gentile interference. Itwas not a fat land into which they were venturing; but at least it was aland without a past, lying clean as it came from the hand of its maker,where they could be free to worship God without fearing the narrowjudgment of the frivolous. Instructed in the sacred mysteries revealedto Joseph Smith through the magic light of the Urim and Thummim, andsustained by the divine message engraved on the golden plates he had dugup from the hill of Cumorah, they were now ready to feel their wayacross the continent and blaze a trail to the new Jerusalem.
They went in military style with due precautions against surprise by theLamanites--the wretched red remnant of Abraham's seed--that swarmed onevery side.
Brigham Young was lieutenant-general; Stephen Markham was colonel; theredoubtable John Pack was first major, and Shadrach Roundy, second.There were two captains of hundreds and fourteen captains of tens. Theorders of the lieutenant-general required each man to walk constantlybeside his wagon, leaving it only by his officer's commands. To make theforce compact, the wagons were to move two abreast where they could.Every man was to keep his weapons loaded. If the gun was a caplock, thecap was to be taken off and a piece of leather put on to excludemoisture and dirt; if a flintlock, the filling was to be taken out andthe pan filled with tow or cotton.
Their march was not only cautious but orderly. At five A.M. the buglesounded for rising, two hours being allowed for prayers and breakfast.At night each man had to retire to his wagon for prayer at eight-thirty,and to rest at nine. If they camped by a river they drew the wagons intoa semicircle with the river at its base. Other times the wagons made acircle, a fore-wheel of one touching a rear wheel of the next, thusproviding a corral for the stock. In such manner was the wisdom of theLord concerning this hegira supplemented in detail by the worldlyforethought of his servant Brigham.
They started along the north bank of the Platte River under theauspicious shine of an April sun. A better route was along the southbank where grass was more plentiful and the Indians less troublesome.But along the south bank parties of migrating Gentiles might also bemet, and these sons of perdition were to be avoided at any cost--"atleast for the present," said Brigham, in tones of sage significance.
And so for two hundred miles they broke a new way over the plains, to beknown years after as "the old Mormon trail," to be broadened later bythe gold-seekers of forty-nine, and still later to be shod with steel,when the miracle of a railway was worked in the desert.
To Joel Rae, Elder after the order of Melchisedek, unsullied product ofthe temple priesthood, it was a time of wondrous soul-growth. In thatmysterious realm of pathless deserts, of illimitable prairies andboundless plains, of nameless rivers and colossal hills, a land ofdreams, of romance, of marvellous adventure, he felt strange powersgrowing within him. It seemed that in such a place the one who openedhis soul to heaven must become endowed with all those singular gifts hehad longed for. He looked confidently forward to the time when theyshould regard him as a man who could work miracles.
At the head of Grand Island they came to vast herds of buffalo--restlessbrown seas of humped, shaggy backs and fiercely lowered heads. In theirfirst efforts to slay these they shot them full in the forehead, andwere dismayed to find that their bullets rebounded harmlessly. Theysolved the mystery later, discovering the hide on the skull of a deadbull to be an inch thick and covered with a mat of gnarled hair initself almost a shield against bullets. Joel Rae, with the divine rightof youth, drew for them from this circumstance an instructive parallel.
So was the head of their own church protected against Gentile shafts bythe hide of righteousness and the matted hair of faith.
The Indians killed buffalo by riding close and striking them with anarrow at the base of the spine; whereupon the beast would fallparalysed, to be hamstrung at leisure. Only by some such infernalstrategy, the young Elder assured them, could the Gentiles everhenceforth cast them down.
For many days their way lay through these herds of buffalo--herds sofar-reaching that none could count their numbers or even see theirfarther line, lost in the distance over the swell of the plains. Oftentheir way was barred until a herd would pass, making the earth tremble,and with a noise like muffled thunder. They waited gladly, feeling thatthese were obstacles on the way to Zion.
Thus far it had been a land of moderate plenty, one in which they were,at least, not compelled to look to Heaven for manna. Besides the buffalowhich the hunters learned to kill, they found deer, antelope, greatflocks of geese and splendid bronzed wild turkeys. Even the truculentgrizzly came to be numbered among their trophies.
Day after day marched the bearded host,--farmers with ploughs, mechanicswith tools, builders, craftsmen, woodsmen, all the needed factors of acolony, led by the greatest coloniser of modern times, their one greataim being to make ready some spot in the wilderness for the secondadvent of the Messiah. All about them was the prairie, its long grassgently billowed by the spring breeze. On the far right, blue in thehaze, was a continuous range of lofty bluffs. On the left the waters ofthe Platte, muddied by the spring freshets, flowed over beds ofquicksand between groves of cottonwood that pleasantly fringed itsbanks. The hard labour and the constant care demanded by the dangersthat surrounded them prevented any from feeling the monotony of thelandscape.
Besides the regular trials of the march there were wagons to be "snaked"across the streams, tires to be reset and yokes to be mended at each"lay-by," strayed stock to be hunted, and a thousand contingenciessufficient to drive from their minds all but the one thought that theyhad been thrown forth from a Christian land for the offence ofworshipping God according to the dictates of their own consciences.
Joel Rae, walking beside his wagon, meditated chiefly upon the manner inwhich his Witness would first manifest itself. The wonder came, in away, while he thus meditated. Late one afternoon the scouts thrown inadvance came hurrying back to report a large band of Indians strung outin battle array a few miles ahead. The wagons were at once formed fiveabreast, their one cannon was wheeled to the front, and the companyadvanced in close formation. Perceiving these aggressive manoeuvres, theIndians seemed to change their plan and, instead of coming on to attack,were seen to be setting fire to the prairie.
The result might well have been disastrous, as the wind was blowingtoward the train. Joel Rae saw it; saw that the time had come for amiracle if the little company of Saints was to be saved a seriousrebuff. He quickly entered his wagon and began to pray. He prayed thatthe Lord might avert this calamity and permit the handful of faithfulones to proceed in peace to fashion His temple on earth.
When he began to pray there had been outside a woful confusion ofsounds,--scared and plunging horses, bellowing oxen, excited menshouting to the stock and to one another, the barking of dogs and therattling of the wagons. Through this din he prayed, scarcely hearing hisown voice, yet feeling within himself the faith that he knew mustprevail. And then as he prayed he became conscious that these noiseshad subsided to a wonderful silence. A moment this lasted, and then heheard it broken by a mighty shout of gladness, followed by excited callsfrom one man to another.
He looked out in calm certainty to observe in what manner the Lord hadconsented to answer his petition. He saw that the wind had veered and,even as he looked, large drops of rain came pounding musically upon his
wagon-cover. Far in front of them a long, low line of flame was crawlingto the west, while above it lurid clouds of smoke rolled away from them.In another moment the full force of the shower was upon them from a skythat half an hour before had been cloudless. Far off to the rightscurried the Indians, their feathery figures lying low upon the backs oftheir small ponies. His heart swelled within him, and he fell again tohis knees with many earnest words of thanksgiving for the intercession.
They at once made camp for the night, and by Brigham's fire later in theevening Joel Rae confided the truth of his miracle to that good man,taking care not to utter the words with any delight or pride in himself.He considered that Brigham was unduly surprised by the occurrence;almost displeased in fact; showing a tendency to attribute the day'sgood fortune to phenomena wholly natural. Although the miracle hadseemed to him a small, simple thing, he now felt a little ashamed of hisperformance. He was pleased to note, however, that Brigham became moregracious to him after a short period of reflection. He praised himindeed for the merit which he seemed to have gained in the Lord's sight;taking occasion to remind him, however, that he, Brigham, had meant toproduce the same effects by a prayer of his own in due time to save thetrain from destruction; that he had chosen to wait, however, in order totry the faith of the Saints.
"As a matter of fact, Brother Joel," he concluded, "I don't know asthere is any limit to the power with which the Lord has blessed me. Itell you I feel equal to any miracle--even to raising the dead, Isometimes think--I feel that fired up with the Holy Ghost!"
"I am sure you will do even that, Brother Brigham." And the young man'seyes swam with mingled gratitude and admiration. He resolved in hiswagon that night, that when the time came for another miracle, he wouldnot selfishly usurp the honour of performing it. He would not againforestall the able Brigham.
By the first of June they had wormed their way over five hundred milesof plain to the trading post of Fort Laramie. Here they were at lastforced to cross the Platte and to take up their march along the Oregontrail. They were now in the land of alkaline deserts, of sage-brush andgreasewood, of sad, bleak, deadly stretches; a land where the favour ofHeaven might have to be called upon if they were to survive. Yet it wasa land not without inspiration,--a land of immense distances, of long,dim perspectives, and of dreamy visions in the far, vague haze. In sucha land, thought Joel Rae, the spirit of the Lord must draw closer to thechildren of earth. In such a land no miracle should be too difficult.And so it came that he was presently enabled to put in Brigham's way theopportunity of performing a work of mercy which he himself would havebeen glad to do, but for the fear of affronting the Prophet.
A band of mounted Sioux had met them one day with friendly advances andstopped to trade. Among the gaudy warriors Joel Rae's attention wascalled to a boy who had lost an arm. He made inquiries, and found him tobe the son of the chief. The chief himself made it plain to Joel thatthe young man had lost his arm ten moons before in a combat with agrizzly bear. Whereupon the young Elder cordially bade the chief bringhis crippled son to their own great chief, who would, by the graciouspower of God, miraculously restore the missing member.
A few moments later the three were before Brigham, who was standing byhis wagon; Joel Rae, glowing with a glad and confident serenity; thetawny chief with his sable braids falling each side of his painted face,gay in his head-dress of dyed eagle plumes, his buckskin shirt jewelledwith blue beads and elk's teeth, warlike with his bow and steel-pointedarrows; and the young man, but little less ornate than his splendidfather, stoical, yet scarce able to subdue the flash of hope in hiseyes as he looked up to the great white chief.
Brigham looked at them questioningly. Joel announced their errand.
"It's a rare opportunity, Brother Brigham, to bring light to thesewretched Lamanites. This boy had his arm torn off a year ago in a fightwith a grizzly. You know you told me that day I brought the rain-stormthat you could well-nigh raise the dead, so this will be easy for you."
Brigham still looked puzzled, so the young man added with a flash ofenthusiasm: "Restore this poor creature's arm and the noise of themiracle will go all through these tribes;" he paused expectantly.
It is the mark of true greatness that it may never be found unprepared.Now and again it may be made to temporise for a moment, cunninglyadopting one expedient or another to hide its unreadiness--but nevermore than briefly.
Brigham had looked slowly from the speaker to the Indians and slowlyback again. Then he surveyed several bystanders who had been attractedto the group, and his eyelids were seen to work rapidly, as if insympathetic pace with his thoughts. Then all at once he faced Joel.
"Brother Rae, have you reflected about this?"
"Why--Brother Brigham--no--not reflected--perhaps if we both prayed withhearts full of faith, the Lord might--"
"Brother Rae!"
There was sternness in the voice now, and the young man trembled beforethe Lion of the Lord.
"You mistake me. I guess I'm a good enough servant of the Lord, so myown prayer would restore this arm without any of your help; yes, I guessthe Lord and me could do it without _you_--if we thought it was best.Now pay attention. Do you believe in the resurrection of the body?"
"I do, Brother Brigham, and of course I didn't mean to"--he was blushingnow.
"Do you believe the day of judgment is at hand?"
"I do."
"How near?"
"You and our priests and Elders say it will come in 1870."
"Correct! How many years is that from now?"
"Twenty-three, Brother Brigham."
"Yes, twenty-three. Now then, how many years are there to be afterthat?"
"How many--surely an eternity!"
"More than twenty-three years, then--much more?"
"Eternity means endless time."
"Oh, it does, does it?"
There had been gradually sounding in his voice a ring of triumph whichnow became distinct.
"Well, then, answer me this--and remember it shall be as you say to thebest of my influence with the Lord--you shall be responsible for thispoor remnant of the seed of Cain. Now, don't be rash! Is it better forthis poor creature to continue with his one arm here for thetwenty-three years the world is to endure, and then pass on to eternitywhere he will have his two arms forever; or, do you want me to renew hisarm now and let him go through eternity a freak, a monstrosity? Do youwant him to suffer a little inconvenience these few days he has here, ordo you want him to go through an endless hereafter with _three arms_?"
The young man gazed at him blankly with a dropped jaw.
"Come, what do you say? I'm full of faith. Shall I--"
"No--no, Brother Brigham; don't--for God's sake, don't! Of course hewould be resurrected with three arms. You think of everything, BrotherBrigham!"
The Indians had meanwhile been growing puzzled and impatient. He nowmotioned them to follow him.
By dint of many crude efforts in the sign language and an earnest use ofthe few words known to both, he succeeded, after a long time, in puttingthe facts before the chief and his son; They, after an animatedconversation, succeeded with much use of the sign language in conveyingto Joel Rae the information that the young man was not at all dismayedby the prospect of having three arms during the next life. He gathered,indeed, that both father and son would be rather elated than otherwiseby this circumstance, seeming to suspect that the extra member mustconfer superior prowess and high distinction upon its possessor.
But he shook his head with much determination, and refused to take themagain before the great white chief. The thought troubled him exceedinglyand would not be gone--yet he knew not how to account for it--thatBrigham would not receive this novel view of the matter with anycordiality.
When they were camped that night, Brigham made a suggestion to him.
"Brother Rae, it ain't just the best plan in the world to come on a mansudden that way for so downright a miracle. A man can't be always firedup with the Holy Ghost, with all the cares of
this train on his mind.You come and have a private talk with me beforehand after this, when yougot a miracle you want done."
He prayed more fervently than ever that night to be made "wise and goodlike thy servant Brigham"--also for the gift of tongues to come upon himso that he might instruct the Indians in the threefold character of theGodhead and in other matters pertaining to their salvation.
The Lions of the Lord: A Tale of the Old West Page 11